profmom Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 This is our first one going off for college, and it's this weekend!! She'll be living on campus with a meal plan, and she'll have a car. We're not sure yet about a job, but she plans to work on campus. What have you guys done that has worked well for living expenses? How much does a student need? (We'll be paying car insurance & cell phone.) I've asked some local friends, but they will not tell me how much they transferred to their students' accounts each month. ("It's different for each family.") Will you guys at least give a range (because we have no idea!)? What has worked well for your family? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clementine Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 We started a checking/debit account with $300. We will add to it when we need to. I'm hoping it will last awhile since our dd will not have a car & will be on the meal plan. Curious to read the responses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myra Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 We have $50 a month directly deposited into son's debit card the first of each month during the school year. Since we have already paid for books, meal plan, and dorm expenses, that money is for dates, late night snacks, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 We had $30 a week deposited into our son's checking account last year. His tuition, room and board, cell phone, books, etc., were all covered. That was for additional food and any entertainment or extras. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 We're struggling with this also, as we drop ds off Sunday. His sister's school had fabulous entertainment on campus- movies, concerts, comedians, bingo, etc. and it was all free. I have no idea what ds's school climate will be like, though I know it's not going to be like dd's. And he can't work this year- cadets aren't allowed, at least the first year. I don't want to deprive him, but I also don't want to give him too much since it's really easy to spend when HE didn't earn it. What kinds of things do your kids spend money on? Ds has an all access food plan so he can eat as often as he wants or even just pop in for a cookie or piece of fruit. Laundry facilities are free. He won't have a car on campus but the school is smack dab in the middle of a small tourist town. He won't need clothes. My own personal spending (for the same kind of things I'm expecting ds to need) is under $50 a month. I'll be interested to read more replies in this thread! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Calvin's university has two spending levels set out on its website. That gave us a good clue as to what might be expected. He's frugal, so hasn't spent much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingersmom Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 I told my daughter I would deposit $100/month into her checking account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 I think it will vary from family to family, depending on the type of lifestyle your student is used to. We made DS an authorized user on one of our credit cards. It was the easiest thing to do and is helping him build a good credit score (plus giving us cash back rewards). Although we haven't set any hard-and-fast allowance amount, he knows the things we typically pay for like all his basic needs, a meal or two a week off campus, etc. and he puts those things on the credit card. He uses his debit card for things he knows we expect him to pay for with his own money. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Whatever our daughter earned in the summer was her spending money for college. I think she started out with about $1,000 last year, and that lasted the school year. She did supplement with a few babysitting jobs. It covered things such as occasional small clothing items that she wanted or needed, drug store items, misc. groceries to keep in her room, some school supplies (not books), public transportation, eating out, Christmas gifts she wanted to buy for family and friends, haircuts, movies, play tickets, ice skate rental, coffee, etc. Room, board, books, and cell phone were already paid for. She did not have a car so didn't need gas. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 My 19yo has spent about $155/month. That is the average and includes her textbooks, food, and gas to come home (about $80 round trip, 2x/semester). She pays for all the gas her roommate uses because her roommate takes her to the grocery store every week and brings her to within 1.5 hours of home (we pick her up from there). She is on a meal plan that covers just 10 meals/week. She doesn't eat breakfast foods and the cafeteria is open for limited hours on the weekend, so she always needs food. For fall semester, she is going to have to eat dinner very early because she has classes from about 4:30 until after the cafeteria closes Monday-Thursday. Unfortunately, almost all of the classes she needed this semester were only offered as evening classes. She has to have food in her room. ETA: We had dd get a college credit card at the bank before she went away to school. The bill comes to the house and we pay it. She only puts food, gas, toiletries, and school stuff on the card. Anything else she pays for out of the money she saved from the job she had her senior year in high school. She has not been able to get a summer job these last two summers despite working hard on getting one. Nobody was interested in having her work for them for just the summer. Hopefully she will be able to get a summer job next year. This summer we had car sharing difficulties with the 22yo working part time on a schedule that changed every week and the 19yo taking a summer class that met 3x/week for 8 weeks and the 17yo taking a summer class that met 4x/week for 6 weeks. They all had to coordinate a car to share, which took some finagling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 We expect our kids to cover all of their random expenses -- textbooks, random meals out, gas, and miscellaneous expenses -- themselves. Our kids had summer jobs in high school so they started with some money in their bank accounts. Often they held a minor job during the semester -- 3-6 hours per week -- that mostly covered their out-of-pocket expenses. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 His spending money was what he earned during the summer. Books and tuition were covered by scholarships, and we paid for room and board and his plane tickets to and from school at the beginning and end of the year and at Christmas. He lived on campus and didn't have a car. He spent $2-3k during the year, but he was not trying to budget at all, and that amount includes a lot of clothing that he bought at the beginning of the year. This year, he's living off campus. Still no car. We are covering rent and utilities, and he is paying for food in addition to spending money. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hikin' Mama Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Whatever our daughter earned in the summer was her spending money for college. . This is what we've done with our middle son. He has three scholarships and we cover the remaining tuition. Someone else pays his rent, and we send him money monthly for food. He lives in an apartment. We pay for his cell phone. He is responsible for his books, utilities, and gas when he had a car. Because he is an engineering student and is required to take at least 15 hours and keep a 3.5 GPA, we don't want him to work during the school year. My oldest went to the local CC and had a part-time job. He had scholarships that paid for tuition and books, so his job went for spending money and gas. His bio dad paid for his cell. For both kids we paid for car insurance, but we happen to have very low rates for them due to our particular situation. If you're not sure what to give her, perhaps you would like to take the same approach we did with his food money. I told him I would send him a certain amount per month, but he needed to keep track of receipts and see what he is spending. If it was too much (my initial amount was a good sum because he has such high caloric needs), then we would adjust it. So that's what we did. I really do think this is an individual thing. Different families will have different budgets and different expectations on what kids "need" for spending money. I would hesitate to tell many people what I give my son for food, because he eats alot, eats gluten free, and eats very healthy. Many people would think I'm spoiling him, but if I can afford good, healthy food for him, I'm going to fund it. However, he didn't have internet at his apartment all last school year, so he had to go to the library to do all his school work. So that is a tradeoff we made for the big food budget. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I think it will vary from family to family, depending on the type of lifestyle your student is used to. We made DS an authorized user on one of our credit cards. It was the easiest thing to do and is helping him build a good credit score (plus giving us cash back rewards). Although we haven't set any hard-and-fast allowance amount, he knows the things we typically pay for like all his basic needs, a meal or two a week off campus, etc. and he puts those things on the credit card. He uses his debit card for things he knows we expect him to pay for with his own money. That's what we did this summer when ds attended an intensive Russian program. It worked out great except I don't think he really likes that I see every charge- like his coffee addiction. But I admit, it does give me proof of life when ds goes a while without contacting us. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 As to allowances, we did not provide one. My daughter had generous need based aid; her college did not provide merit based aid. She worked about ten hours a week for her work study job and also had loans. We paid for her books and her flights home. She lived in the dorm and had a full meal plan. My sister generously gave her a cell phone, and she was on their family plan. She was also gifted with a laptop as a high school graduation present by that same generous aunt. Any other expenses she paid for herself out of summer wages or gift monies. A couple of threads on the same topic one and two. Regards, Kareni 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Leaving aside the question of working for money-- Doesn't this depend massively on where the student is and what you think a normal life is? For one family, the idea that a child would not be able to date without getting a job is just absurd. How could a teenager be expected to study, have a girlfriend and a job? What is this, some kind of failure factory? A college student should be able to date and enjoy himself. Otherwise, he will get sad. For another family, they will only co-sign on subsidized loans and if you want to pay the rest you'd better work and you pay rent at home because if we did it in 1966 when tuition was three month's wages, you can do it in 2015 when tuition is one year's wages. They don't mind seeing their child spend every night indoors on a duct-taped laptop because they have no money to spare. That is how they learn. In one college town, you can go on a date for $50 and pay for the girl, park, buy gas, and even new shampoo and snacks for the week. There are no parking tickets. In another city, if you try to buy snacks and toiletries for $50, you will be turning beet red at the checkout counter and quickly returning to exchange that fancy stuff for some Suave and resolving to drink only tap water. And then you will return to your car and see a $45 parking ticket because you didn't see the sign covered by a tree that said STORE PARKING ONLY, EVERY OTHER SATURDAY BETWEEN 11 - 12 AND THURSDAYS FROM 3 - 5 p.m. OR 8 a.m. - 11 a.m. ON FEDERAL HOLIDAYS WELCOME TO THE BIG CITY SUCKER! What kind of lifestyle do you want your son to live? What is the minimum wage where he is moving to? Likely the COL for students is closely related to that. If you want your child to be able to live a life with those whose tuition is paid and who are working part time, then pay him a part time salary. Around here that would be about $110/week minimum wage, tax free, 10 hours a week. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 What we did: 1. We paid more for college than we had planned. 2. Because of that, we told DD that she needed to take out the standard non-subsidized student loan amount each year and be responsible for that much. 3. Since she was assigned a dorm apartment contract and was not allowed to get a full meal plan, we gave her an ATM card to be used only for groceries and textbooks. She is careful not to overspend. We put money onto that account as needed. 4. I send 'care packages' from time to time and include some cash or gift cards in them. The gift cards are for Target and are intended for groceries. The cash is for DD to use for herself in any way that she wants. It amounts to about $40/month, but it is a little irregular. 5. DD chose to work parttime last year (her idea). She also worked fulltime this summer (our idea--we told her that she needed to pitch in substantially at home, get a job, or go to community college, or a combo. We walked her through getting a job, and it has been the best possible thing for all of us.) She gets to keep all of that money--we don't charge for room and board or anything like that at home. We hope that she will use most of it for the loan, and she seems to be inclined that way herself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 What kind of lifestyle do you want your son to live? What is the minimum wage where he is moving to? Likely the COL for students is closely related to that. If you want your child to be able to live a life with those whose tuition is paid and who are working part time, then pay him a part time salary. Around here that would be about $110/week minimum wage, tax free, 10 hours a week. Well, the better question is not the lifestyle we want our child to live, but how much is realistic for us as individual families to contribute toward our child's miscellaneous expenses when we are already paying out tens of thousands of dollars for educational expenses. I think I can safely say that most of us want our children to have what they need, but it isn't my goal to have him live a life comparable to any other student. Instead, we will do our best to manage our resources wisely. I'm sure there will be students there that will have more money than he does and some that have less. Not everyone can provide money to cover everything their child needs because for many, paying for college is a strain on the family budget. Those kids will need to work or pull money from their personal savings to cover what they need. Some families can provide for their child's needs only and some can provide for their needs and some or all of their wants. Some families will require their children to pay part or all of their college related expenses and do not connect this requirement to family finances at all. All of these scenarios are valid. I can't imagine what a college student would do with $110 of discretionary spending money per week. Quite frankly, that's a lot of eating out, movies, dating and partying. Back to the OP's question - we don't plan on giving our son an allowance at this time. We do have a plan for what we costs we will cover. Our reasoning is that he is arriving on campus with a lot of things already covered (tuition & fees, room, meal plan, parking pass, book rental fee, etc.) and with a full complement of dorm supplies, study supplies, appropriate clothing, toiletries & snacks. We think is other required expenses will be fairly minimal because he's a fairly low maintenance guy. If it helps any, this question about allowance was asked of the student panel at orientation and not one of the four students on the panel received a regular allowance. They all used money they had earned over the summer and at Christmas breaks. They did say that they appreciated it when relatives would occasionally send them gift certificates to area restaurants for birthday gifts and that it was extra special if it was of a size where they could also bring a friend with them. We will put $50 on his university card account to cover misc items such as laundry, copies, consumable art supplies, etc.. He has funds in his personal checking/savings account that he has put in over the years from earnings, gifts, etc. that he can use for dating & recreation. We will put money in his personal account to cover gas to & from home as well as medical & dental expenses as they occur. Other expenses that we will cover are similar to what we already cover: refill his meal plan if he runs out of money refill his university card account as long as he has used it responsibly (we will be able to see transaction details) replace clothing that has worn out or become unusable thorough normal wear or growth winter boots when he figures out what he needs ministry retreats (we expect a couple of weekend trips per year, we may find out different, though) We are willing to pay for other reasonable expenses that are directly related to his education and well being and will consider expenses that we haven't thought about on a case by case basis. There are tons of free things that can be done on campus and in the area for dates, but he is free to spend his own money on activities if he wishes. We will not be bankrolling his dating life or a party lifestyle and he is aware of that. He will have access to a lot of low cost recreational opportunities through the university, including movies, ski trips, camping trips, rafting trips, tons of other outdoor activities and a host of club activities. If he continues to manage his money wisely, I think he will have plenty to cover those expenses in his personal account. If it turns out that it is better for him if he has a regular allowance instead of us covering some of the expenses as they occur, then we will definitely consider it, but we are hoping this plan will work. We shall see. Maybe we can all update each other (in general terms) on how well our kids managed their expenses at the end of this first semester. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I can't imagine what a college student would do with $110 of discretionary spending money per week. Quite frankly, that's a lot of eating out, movies, dating and partying. That is why I talked about COL as well. $110 is not "a lot of eating out, movies, dating and partying" in Seattle. That's $4/day. That is one medium cup of coffee per day ($2 if you walk), one candy bar, then you end up with $30 left over which would be enough for a modest dinner date or a ski trip I suppose. I guess my thought is, if you're asking others what they are spending, you are indeed asking to determine how much your child needs to have the average standard of living. Otherwise the question would be different. And for that I'm saying, it depends on what sort of social circle you are in, who you believe your kid will be spending time with, and what the COL is in the city in which your child is attending school. $110 would be an extremely modest amount for a girl in a UW sorority to have. It would probably be a ridiculously huge amount to have in Missoula. It would be a small amount for books and groceries anywhere, considering the price of textbooks, even if you rent and buy new, particularly in engineering and math. So another factor is what else are you paying for? Are you buying their shampoo for them, their toothpaste, their rides home? Are you paying all club fees? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 That is why I talked about COL as well. $110 is not "a lot of eating out, movies, dating and partying" in Seattle. That's $4/day. That is one medium cup of coffee per day ($2 if you walk), one candy bar, then you end up with $30 left over which would be enough for a modest dinner date or a ski trip I suppose. 110/7 = um, about $15.75 a day. You did the math for $110 every month. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 One nice thing we have found is that by and large, most students (at least where my kids have been) really do try and live on a student's budget. They skimp and shop at second-hand stores, have picnics on the lawn, and find cheap or free entertainment. It doesn't feel burdensome when everyone is doing it that way together. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Tusuga- sorry I can't quote - I'm on my cell phone. There is a very nice coffee shop on campus and candy bars can be purchased at a campus bookstore with both transactions coming off of his meal plan. Basic coffee can be obtained in the dining halls and library, again on his meal plan. If he wanted to, he could get a Keurig and have his friends over to his room for coffee much less expensively than going to either the dining halls or the campus coffee shop. These types of expenses are within the studen's control and they can set their social lives up accordingly. I think you've done some math wrong, though - $4 per day is only $28 per week, not $110 per week. I think the OP asked the question to get a ballpark idea of what her child's expenses might run, not so the she could make sure he could live a comparable lifestyle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 110/7 = um, about $15.75 a day. You did the math for $110 every month. Gyah! This is what happens when you post during vacation packing breaks. Yes, I got the units wrong. I don't have experience as a college student with a cash allowance purely for fun. It seems to me that many students could easily spend this all on a gym membership, a data plan, and a weekly trip to an art gallery or somethin. Does that seem fancy? Yes, but then, fancy is all relative. My point is to say, if you aren't having them work, you simply cannot compare them without thinking about COL, their expectations, and their presumed social circle. It's fine to say, "They have to accept what we can give," but I got the idea that the OP was coming from a different angle. TechWife, indeed, there are very nice colleges that offer all of that. Not all do. Also, some students like to leave campus more often. If they are in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York--you wouldn't blame them for wanting to go into the city once a week. And that could cost a lot. For some families, that would just be--tough luck kiddo, get a job. For others, if you have the money and you choose to spend it on comforts for your child, then that is cash out of the bank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 DD21 has worked part-time all thru college and covered all her own expenses thru scholarships and savings. However, she is a senior this year and has student-teaching 15-20 hours a week. There just isn't time for all the music performances and take 21 credits, and do student teaching and a job and still sleep. We are covering the $400 a month this year for her that she had been earning from her part time job. That money will cover her share of the utility bill, renter insurance, gas for her car, groceries and a bit left over for spending on weekends if she has energy to do something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 When I was in college there were a lot of inexensive and free entertainment opportunities. Dating often revolved around those things, so it wouldn't occur to me factoring in "dating" as part of an allowance. Indeed all of the universities we've visited have all these free/cheap options. One school in an almost urban setting had free first run movies and an arts center that had very high quality theatre, dance and music programming that gave massive discounts on student tickets. Of the school's we visited the only entertainment, I'd feel might need to be subsidized was football at one university. Student tickets are not free. If you like the feel of big time college football it would be nice to be a part of that. That school does offer a student season ticket package. My brother always bought that for my niece. Mostly our family plans the summer job to be the budget for entertainment and incidentals. My oldest is terrible with money. He going away again in a week as a transfer. His first school there was very little opportunity to spend at all, so this experience of managing will be hard I expect. We'll see how it goes. Dd will go in a year. She is very careful with money. I'm certain she won't have a problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 Count us among the cruel I suppose. My kids know they are adults now and get to work for their extra money. We cover phone, textbooks, and transportation to/from college. We even have ours work during the summer to cover their $2500 expected student contribution. Mine have gotten work study jobs (freshmen year +) and other jobs afterward. Youngest will be a student religious "chaplain" (I think that's the title) at Eckerd this year and it pays $1000. Oldest worked in A/V all four years. Middle has been a TA several times and an RA along with having his research jobs and a work study job. In spite of all their work, they still seem to have time to have fun/friends (or at least they pretend well), and as others have mentioned, there are oodles of cheap options on campus and college student discounts off it. They've also learned to budget well. ;) This might have been a goal of ours. It's how I learned to budget too back in the stone ages. We also tend to send a token amount of money (anywhere from $20 - $50) along in their care packages when they get them (holidays/birthdays). We still do this for oldest now even though he's graduated, working, and married. ;) I guess it's tough to break old dogs from the tricks they've learned! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2att Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 His spending money was what he earned during the summer. This is exactly what we have done as well. We pay tuition, room and board, insurance, and cell phone. Dd pays for books, daily needs, gas, and extras. For the upcoming year, she's buying her own food as well. She's not a huge eater, didn't particularly care for the dorm food (though she works in one of the dining halls--maybe that's why!), and we found after freshman year that we really didn't get our money's worth out of even the cheapest dining plan. So she has a larger than dorm-sized fridge in her room, a floor kitchen down the hall, and will be buying her own food to prepare and eat. We paid for her to study abroad this summer and losing the dining plan pays for a big chunk of that. This was actually dd's idea--I was going to put $1,000 on her ID and let her cash pay in the dining hall, but she didn't even want that. She is very careful with what she spends--more so when it is her money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 C is a commuter so we began a checking account hear the school, though not with the bank the school recommended because the deal wasn't that great compared to another student account elsewhere. Dh is paid bi-weekly and we have begun direct deposit of gas and food money in addition to the original $300.00 that we deposited to open the account and the $100.00 the bank offered for opening a new student account. So he's getting a nice nest egg built up for his expenses. In terms of just "fun money", he's pretty practical and up until the car accident and disability, worked for a lot of that by assisting grandpa in his business on Saturdays and sometimes in the evenings when gpa was working late. Since he can't do that anymore, I imagine that we'll give him $20.00 a week for "pizza money until he finds a source of income. He did so well on his writing placement exam that the student resources center told him they thought they would have an English tutoring position open for him or a paid mentor job in the writing lab. This would be ideal for him so that he can earn money since the typical physical labor of standing for long periods and washing dishes in the cafeteria, or shoveling snow for maintenance, or whatever are out of the question. For P, the rising senior, once he's made a housing deposit next spring, we'll set up an account near campus right away so we can again use direct deposit in advance to begin building up the funds. It's easier for us to just set it aside in this manner, and can generally just tweak the household budget to account for it instead of dipping into savings or opening and credit card. But, since P will be going to school a long distance from home, we will probably get a student credit card with a $500.00 limit for emergencies. If he puts anything on there but preapproved purchases or real emergencies, he'll be the one getting a summer job to pay it back. As a general rule, there is a somewhat finite amount for each boy that can be contributed to tuition, room, and board, books, fees, etc. They know what this is and have to make their college choices accordingly. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profmom Posted August 8, 2015 Author Share Posted August 8, 2015 Thanks, guys! This is very helpful! (Of course, more comments are welcome!) My goal is to give her what she needs for gas, h&b products, laundry, and a bit of entertainment, but not so much that she doesn't need to budget the money. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelaNYC Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 We loaded up dd's card with about $120 per week. I know it sounds like a lot, but there is no meal plan and her dorm is in Manhattan. She goes to the Trader Joe's around the corner for groceries, uses the public transportation often, and every now and then does get to enjoy some of the city life (restaurants, clubs, cultural venues and events, etc) - which I encourage. This year (her 2nd year starts in October) she'll be working on Saturdays (teaching dance), which will cut my weekly contribution by at least half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 We've just handed them a credit card on our account (in their name). That way, they don't run out in an emergency situation. But we raised our kids to be cheapskates and they know that everything they charge shows up on our statement. If they did start spending a lot on questionable items, we'd be sure to rethink this strategy. It's not something I'd suggest for some families I know. You have to know that you and your kid are on the same page about what is reasonable spending. As far as an actual amount is concerned -- I see them charging the occasional lunch out, buying soda from vending machines (apparently they're not as cheap as I am), and the occasional shopping trip for supplies that is under 100. Gas is only about once a month or less. I think if I gave them 200/month that would be too much. But then they'll have something big -- which might be several hundred or more because it's books or because they're paying their fees. We've found it hard to "budget" for fees because they don't just get a single bill. The college strings it out over months and when we think we've got it all paid, something else shows up. Lab fees, honors fees, you name it. Books can be shockingly high. Or fairly low. It depends on how much the student is willing to shop around. I know there are kids who just buy what they need from the college bookstore because either their parents are paying or because they have so many loans that it doesn't seem worth it to save money. But while my current college student is spending less than 200 for a year of books, she has friends who are up around 1000. (I did have to do a bit of hands on training to show them HOW to get books cheap) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Dd has her own checking account with her own earned money (summer jobs). Apart from "college money" - tuition, books, room/board - she spends her own money on extras. She did not have a car for the first two years, which saved a lot. She bought her own car and pays for oil changes. We pay auto insurance. We do fund her Starbucks card, and now that she has a car she also has a part-time job to pay for gas. When we manage to visit I like to load her up with groceries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 My kids have gotten jobs, but we haven't required them to pay for basic expenses or frivolities unless they were pricey (like a phone they really wanted). Instead, we've encouraged them to put a lot of their money into IRAs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbk mama Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 We've just handed them a credit card on our account (in their name). That way, they don't run out in an emergency situation. But we raised our kids to be cheapskates and they know that everything they charge shows up on our statement. This is what my parents did for me, and what we plan to do with our kids. (Well, actually it was a credit card taken out in my name, so that I could build credit, but my parents paid the bill.) I also had a bank account with money I earned in the summers, and from part time campus jobs. I mostly used the credit card, though. My dad would joke about how he knew everywhere I had been. I was always aware that my parents were paying that bill, and so was pretty frugal. It is a fond memory for me actually, that place of new freedom and trust. I hope we have that same kind of relationship and trust with our kids. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 This is what my parents did for me, and what we plan to do with our kids. (Well, actually it was a credit card taken out in my name, so that I could build credit, but my parents paid the bill.) I also had a bank account with money I earned in the summers, and from part time campus jobs. I mostly used the credit card, though. My dad would joke about how he knew everywhere I had been. I was always aware that my parents were paying that bill, and so was pretty frugal. It is a fond memory for me actually, that place of new freedom and trust. I hope we have that same kind of relationship and trust with our kids. FWIW -- From what I understand, nowadays it's next to impossible for anyone under 21 w/o a decent paying job to get their own credit card. Once a college student turn 21, it's pretty easy. But making your student an authorized user on one of your own cards will build his/her credit score. We recently checked 19 yo DS's FICO score after one year of being an authorized user on DH's card. It's a very good 780. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Thanks, guys! This is very helpful! (Of course, more comments are welcome!) My goal is to give her what she needs for gas, h&b products, laundry, and a bit of entertainment, but not so much that she doesn't need to budget the money. I love that you started this thread. Dh and I have had a couple discussions trying to pin down a number. What you describe is exactly what we are after. We want him to have the money he needs, but not so much that he doesn't learn to manage it. He has multiple disabilities and the adjustment to college will be enough. Working is not an option. We have decided to start at $100/month. Ds can let us know if there is a cost that won't cover and we agreed to re-evaluate at Christmas. Ds is not a spender, but we want him to feel like he can participate if friends are doing something social and we want to make sure he can cover basic needs. ETA ds does have a credit card on our account in his name. We don't want him to use this for everyday spending though, because we want him to learn to budget and pay attention to what he spends. Our cc is too easy. He needs to grow in the area of personal financial awareness and so the allowance is important in our minds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 FWIW -- From what I understand, nowadays it's next to impossible for anyone under 21 w/o a decent paying job to get their own credit card. Once a college student turn 21, it's pretty easy. But making your student an authorized user on one of your own cards will build his/her credit score. We recently checked 19 yo DS's FICO score after one year of being an authorized user on DH's card. It's a very good 780. Wells Fargo has a college credit card specifically for students who are going away to college. They just have to be 18yo to get it. My middle dd didn't turn 18yo until 5 weeks into the school year, so we had to wait until Thanksgiving break for her to get one. Her older sister paid for her books on her own card. We have had our kids get a credit card through the bank when they turn 18yo so they have it to pay for college expenses. This is not for fun money. This is for textbooks and supplies and groceries and gas. They pay for fun stuff with their debit cards. The paper bill comes to our house and we pay it. https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/cash-back-college-card/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Wells Fargo has a college credit card specifically for students who are going away to college. They just have to be 18yo to get it. My middle dd didn't turn 18yo until 5 weeks into the school year, so we had to wait until Thanksgiving break for her to get one. Her older sister paid for her books on her own card. We have had our kids get a credit card through the bank when they turn 18yo so they have it to pay for college expenses. This is not for fun money. This is for textbooks and supplies and groceries and gas. They pay for fun stuff with their debit cards. The paper bill comes to our house and we pay it. https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/cash-back-college-card/ Our credit union told us it was pretty well impossible for under 21 year olds to get their own card, and I've heard Clark Howard say the same thing. Having DS as an authorized user on DH's card has worked very well for us, but it's good to know there are alternatives available for those who want to go that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofjep Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 We do $50 on the 1st and $50 on the 15th of each month. She lives off campus so it's mostly spent on groceries and gas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Our credit union told us it was pretty well impossible for under 21 year olds to get their own card, and I've heard Clark Howard say the same thing. Having DS as an authorized user on DH's card has worked very well for us, but it's good to know there are alternatives available for those who want to go that route. My youngest is only 19 and had no problem getting a credit card from Chase. The card is totally his, no co-signer needed. He pays it off every month, so has no interest charged. I'm pretty sure there's no annual fee too and I know it's not a pre-loaded card. I've encouraged both of my "still in college" boys to sign up for Discover as I love that card, but it's not accepted everywhere, so it helps if they also have a Visa or MC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Wells Fargo has a college credit card specifically for students who are going away to college. They just have to be 18yo to get it. My middle dd didn't turn 18yo until 5 weeks into the school year, so we had to wait until Thanksgiving break for her to get one. Her older sister paid for her books on her own card. We have had our kids get a credit card through the bank when they turn 18yo so they have it to pay for college expenses. This is not for fun money. This is for textbooks and supplies and groceries and gas. They pay for fun stuff with their debit cards. The paper bill comes to our house and we pay it. https://www.wellsfargo.com/credit-cards/cash-back-college-card/ Although Wells Fargo was advertising they would open up reasonably priced checking accounts for college kids as well as credit cards, they would not open one of these "college kid" accounts for my daughter. We never got to the credit card option through them. They pulled some kind of bait and switch where they advertised low fees for college students, but then turned around and said they would only set up something with very high fees, limited number of checks per month, and we would have to also be on the account. Seeing as she already had a job and just wanted a place to do automatic deposit for her paycheck this was beyond weird. I think they decided to set her up with an account they could make a lot of money off of by saying she was high risk. There was nothing in her credit report to cause them to act this way. We went down the street to a credit union and they opened an account for her without any trouble. They did do a credit check of some sort (apparently banks do this now before setting up checking accts). They were able to tell us that there was nothing in her history that should have raised any alarms at all. So I'm guessing it was just Wells Fargo trying to milk money out of unsuspecting students by using this bait and switch tactic. On the other hand, it might have been our zip code and she was getting redlined. Which would have been illegal, but we couldn't prove it. But as a result, I don't really trust the Wells Fargo ads that say this or that can be set up for college students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Our experience is that credit unions are easier to work with than banks in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profmom Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 Thanks again, guys! I think we'll start out with $100 a month. Dd thought that might be too much and suggested that we start with $80 a month. We'll see! We don't want her to get used to using a credit card, so we'll skip that. She is keeping her account at our bank, so we can easily transfer money from our account to hers in an emergency. She can deposit checks by taking a picture in our bank app, and she can withdraw money by getting cash back at Walmart, etc. This thread has been very helpful! I appreciate your input! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebbS Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 We don't give our college student an allowance. My son works during the summer to pay for his tuition, room & board, etc. He began saving for college while in high school and took a gap year before starting college to work full time. He also earned some academic scholarships. We have pitched in for some tuition and room & board, but mostly, it's up to him. His 'extras' last year amounted to less than $200. He takes advantage of the free stuff on campus and spends time with friends for entertainment. He doesn't have a car nor does he need one. We do replenish his toiletries and food supply whenever we see him (4x during the school year) often buy him gifts to help him along. I figure that college is a transition into adulthood and adults don't get allowances. They get jobs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 We expect our kids to earn their spending money over breaks or during the school year. They use their savings for personal expenses. I do load up their school cash card (associated with their id and meal plans) at the beginning of each semester. I haven't received any calls for $$. We did help our oldest out with a marine biology scuba trip to the Caribbean over Spring Break last year. When he lived in an apartment, we helped with meals. This year, our oldest is living in an apartment not owned by the college (and therefore, not billed as room and board with the tuition.) So, I will be depositing rent $$ and a little extra for groceries into his account. He will have a campus job, which should cover most of his grocery bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arliemaria Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Back when I went to college... seems like a million years ago! My husband's father would give him a certain amount each month as an amazon gift card. This was when amazon was for books and not a million other things. Of course, they sold other things, but it was mostly print materials. I think it was $50 a month. It was his dad's way to encourage him to continue to read even outside of classwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Our credit union told us it was pretty well impossible for under 21 year olds to get their own card, and I've heard Clark Howard say the same thing. Having DS as an authorized user on DH's card has worked very well for us, but it's good to know there are alternatives available for those who want to go that route. Our local bank is privately owned and very student friendly. They have a student credit card, co-signed by parents, but doesn't require the use of the parent credit rating to apply, with a $1000.00 firm limit...student cannot request a raise. The interest rate is reasonable, but the student must be 18 to get it so ds will be out of luck until he's been at school for 3 weeks. That said, we will leave money in his checkbook so he won't be reeling if he has an emergency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Another thought, things like ibuprofen, tampons, vitamins, laundry detergent, etc need to be accounted for in the money they spend off campus. It's not all fun and games :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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